Biden claims his uncle Frank won Purple Heart but story doesn’t add up
By Steven Nelson and
Caitlin Doornbos
December 16, 2022 2:10pm
President Biden claimed Friday that his uncle Frank Biden won the Purple Heart for his actions during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II — but there’s no evidence of the award and key details of the story are chronologically impossible.
The 80-year-old commander-in-chief has a habit of sharing false or embellished personal anecdotes to build a connection with his audiences and told his latest apparent tall tale during largely unscripted remarks to veterans in Delaware.
“My dad, when I got elected vice president [in 2008], he said, ‘Joey, Uncle Frank fought in the Battle of the Bulge.’ He was not feeling very well now — not because of the Battle the Bulge, but he said, ‘and he won the Purple Heart and he never received it. He never got it. Do you think you could help him get it? We will surprise him,'” the president recalled.
“So I got him the Purple Heart. He had won it in the Battle of the Bulge. And I remember he came over the house and I came out and [my father] said, ‘Present it to him, okay?’ We had the family there,” Biden went on.
“I said, ‘Uncle Frank, you’ve won this and I wanted to —’ and he said, ‘I don’t want the damn thing.’ No, I’m serious, he said, ‘I don’t want it.’ I said, ‘What’s the matter, Uncle Frank? You earned it.’ He said, ‘Yeah, but the others died. The others died. I lived. I don’t want it.'”
Biden told the story apparently to make a point about the humility of veterans, but the known facts indicate it’s not true.
Biden’s father, Joseph R. Biden Sr., died in September 2002 — more than six years before his son was elected vice president. Frank Biden, Joe Sr.’s brother, died in 1999.
The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment. The Defense Department referred questions to the Army — the military branch in which Frank Biden served — but the Army did not immediately respond.
Frank Biden’s tombstone does not identify him as a Purple Heart recipient, nor does his obituary. A registry of Purple Heart winners also doesn’t note anyone by that name receiving the award, which honors soldiers wounded or killed while fighting on behalf of the United States.
The Post’s librarians could not locate prior references to Frank Biden receiving the Purple Heart in the Nexis archive and the Factba.se repository of Joe Biden’s public statements also doesn’t contain prior references.
The tale involving Biden’s uncle is similar to another emotionally impactful but false story told by then-presidential candidate Joe Biden in 2019 — this one involving a Navy captain supposedly refusing to accept a Silver Star for his heroism in Afghanistan. A Washington Post fact check from the time said Biden “jumbled elements of at least three actual events into one story of bravery, compassion and regret that never happened.”
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https://nypost.com/2022/12/16/biden-claims-his-uncle-frank-won-purple-heart-but-story-doesnt-add-up/
